QUT terminates contract of executive director Chris Sarra

THE Queensland University of Technology yesterday terminated the contract of its founder and executive director Chris Sarra.

Chris Sarra

AFTER five years hosting the Stronger Smarter Institute for indigenous education, the Queensland University of Technology yesterday terminated the contract of its founder and executive director Chris Sarra about 18 months before it was due to expire.

Dr Sarra, who has been on sabbatical since July, said a difference in opinion over the running of the institute and almost $50 million in federal government grants was the cause of the breakdown in relations, and he intended to establish the institute as an independent entity.

However, QUT acting vice-chancellor Carol Dickenson pointed to statements made by Dr Sarra last year that he was planning to leave QUT and education as the reason for the split.

In a statement to The Australian yesterday, Professor Dickenson wished Dr Sarra well and said negotiations on the transfer of the Stronger Smarter Institute were continuing.

While the institute will retain its leadership program, working with principals and teachers to instil high expectations for indigenous children in schools, the organisation's two biggest projects funded by the federal government will be taken over by the university.

"QUT has supported Dr Sarra in his endeavours to transfer the institute, whilst ensuring appropriate probity and accountability for public funds," the statement says.

"For many years, QUT has provided an environment that supports programs and strategies that advance indigenous education and will continue to do so. In the successful delivery of these programs, the university has taken seriously its role to manage funding from government and philanthropic foundations responsibly."

But Dr Sarra said he had become increasingly uneasy about the interference by the university in the running of the institute, and particularly in the accountability for the federal government grants.

"I tried desperately to find governance arrangements that would enable the institute to have adequate autonomy and to be able to have complete financial transparency and disclosure," Dr Sarra said.

"My belief is that we should disclose where every dollar and every cent of money that came in was spent, but I was actively restricted from doing so."

Dr Sarra came to prominence as the first indigenous principal of Cherbourg State School in southeast Queensland, where he lifted student literacy levels from among the state's lowest to the average in three years.

With the support of the Queensland government, Dr Sarra established the Indigenous Education Leadership Institute in 2006, the forerunner to the Stronger Smarter Institute before it joined QUT in 2008.

Dr Sarra said he was not bitter, but keen to secure financial independence for the institute to enable it to become a world leader in the education of First Peoples.